Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Senator Zappone for raising this matter and apologise on behalf of the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection who is not in a position to attend and who has asked me to deliver a response on her behalf.

As the Senator will know, the eligibility rules governing the payment of a student maintenance grant are a matter for the Department of Education and Skills and are set down in its legislation. In budget 2010, the Department of Education and Skills amended the eligibility criteria for the receipt of the student maintenance grants in respect of persons in receipt of the back to education allowance and the VTOS allowance. As a result of this amendment people in receipt of the back to education allowance for all schemes, and the VTOS allowance for those pursuing a PLC course, are no longer eligible for a student maintenance grant. However, the cost of the student service charge and any fees payable to third level colleges may continue to be met by the Exchequer on their behalf. This applied to all new grant holders from the 2010-11 academic year onwards.

With effect from the academic year 2010-11, students entering or progressing to a new course are no longer eligible to hold the back to education allowance together with a student maintenance grant. These students may continue to apply to be assessed to have the student contribution and any tuition fees paid on their behalf. The Department of Education and Skills decided to discontinue the practice of allowing students to hold both the back to education allowance or VTOS allowance and a student maintenance grant simultaneously as this represented a duplication of income support payments.

In budget 2012, the Department of Social Protection introduced reforms to the one-parent family payment, OFP, in particular the reduction of the age of the youngest child for receipt of such payment to seven years of age. These changes have been implemented on a phased basis with the final phase due to take place on 2 July 2015 when the age of the youngest child will reduce to seven years for all existing and new one-family payment recipients. The purpose of the phased OFP scheme age change reforms is to reduce long-term social welfare dependency by ending the expectation that lone parents will remain outside the workforce indefinitely and to assist these customers to make their way into employment and financial independence. All customers who are affected by this reform will be supported by the Department of Social Protection to transition onto an alternative income support payment as appropriate.

In regard to the education element, given that there is no work conditionality attached to the one-family payment, recipients of the payment can participate in training and education programmes and are not obliged to inform the Department of Social Protection. In some cases, such recipients do inform the Department and, where relevant, move to the back to education allowance scheme at the start of the course. Where entitlement to the payment ceases for these recipients, they can continue, and this is important, to participate in the back to education allowance scheme until their course is completed. In cases where the customer has not informed the Department of Social Protection, and they are mid-way through their studies, as Senator Zappone outlined, the back to education allowance scheme has been amended to allow them avail of this scheme at mid-course point, assuming that all other relevant qualifying criteria are met. This allows these customers to complete their course of study while also receiving an income support payment from the Department of Social Protection. If the customer has received a student grant, they are informed that they are no longer entitled to the maintenance portion of the grant. They may, however, retain eligibility for the student contribution or tuition fee portion of the grant, if applicable. The rules that determine payment of the student maintenance grant are a matter for the Department of Education and Skills.